Tag Archives: Bulleit

Lately the supermarket has been overflowing with absolutely delicious strawberries. Every time The Lady and I go we come home with several punnets as they are just irresistible. Naturally we just had to use some of this amazing fruit in a cocktail. We opted for something simple yet full of flavour so the strawberries could really be the star of the show. Introducing the Rye Strawberry Smash.

In the bottom of a cocktail shaker muddle the strawberries, rosemary, and peppercorns. You want the strawberries to release as much of their juices as possible so really mash them up good. Add in your rye, syrup, lemon juice and bitters. Shake it thoroughly so it all gets mixed together. Get some ice and put it in an old-fashioned glass then pour your deliciously boozy concoction in. Garnish with a strawberry on the side of the glass and a sprig of rosemary.

Damn son this is a pretty drink. We wanted the strawberries to be the star of the show and they are, giving the drink a nice deep red colour, and the strawberry and rosemary garnish make it look extra inviting. It also has a delicious sweet strawberry aroma, which masks the fact that there are 2 shots of rye in there. Flavourwise the drink could definitely take more booze, as the rye provides a nice spiciness combined with the peppercorns that is not too overpowering, but towards the end you definitely start to realise this is a bit of a potent drink so add that extra shot at your own discretion. Drivers step away from the glass. Outside of the boozy spiciness you get a great mix of tart sweetness from the strawberries and sour lemon tang that is really refreshing and pairs together nicely. Also make sure you drop your strawberry garnish in so at the end you get to chow down on a rather tasty booze soaked strawberry, yum!

Fruit seasons can be so fleeting that you really need to take advantage of them when you can, in any way you can. A simple cocktail of smashed fruit is the perfect way to do this and the Rye Strawberry Smash is the proof. A tasty drink that really shows off the great flavours of some delicious strawberries.

So the other night it was the midweek slump and The Lady was enjoying a night with the girls and I was on my lonesome catching up on House of Cards Season 2. All that political intrigue, backstabbing and Kevin Spacey Southern drawl made me work me up a mighty thirst. As I perused the bar I remembered there was an open bottle of Noilly Prat dry vermouth in the fridge from our adventures during Small Mouth Week that probably needed some attention while a bottle of Bulleit Rye Whiskey caught my eye as aside from a recent sampling of Old Fashioned’s it’s not a spirit I recall using much. Looking at these two ingredients I wondered if there was a drink that combined the two and their is, an Admiral.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add vermouth, rye and orange juice. Shake to combine and to cool the mix. Use bitters to coat a rocks glass. Strain into glass. Squeeze peel over glass to release oils then drop into glass to garnish.

Now I’ve called my drink a Modified Admiral because, as this was a spur of the moment thing, I didn’t have the other essential ingredient. An Admiral typically uses lemon juice instead of orange juice but I didn’t have any lemons on hand and couldn’t bring myself to use the little squeeze bottle of lemon juice. Channeling my inner Frank Underwood I didn’t let such a minor thing stop me on my path to drinking greatness, so I improvised and ever so slightly bent the rules. I also decided, since I’m already not making a proper Admiral, to try and jazz it up a little bit hence upping the amount of rye for some extra spicyness and the bitters, to just give it a hint of something different.

The drink had quite a murky colour, murky like Frank Underwood’s morals. It is probably one of those times when it needed to be double-strained to further clarify it given the amount of orange juice. That aside this was quite an enjoyable drink to sip as I watched Kevin Spacey plot his next move up the political ladder, he so sly. It was easier to drink than I expected given the fact that it had over three shots of alcohol in it. There’s no horrible after-burn yet the orange juice also doesn’t make it overly sweet either which I was concerned it might. Instead it’s just a pleasant sipping drink with that lovely aroma of orange citrus from the peel, a hint of sweetness from the orange, some spicyness from the rye, a slight tang and a bold dry white wine flavour from the vermouth. The vermouth is certainly the dominant flavour but I think there’s enough from the orange and rye that there’s a bit more complexity which is quite nice.

Like one of Frank Underwood’s political opponents I didn’t see this coming. A spur of the moment drink, slightly tinkered with and over three shots of alcohol in it? That sounds like a recipe for disaster nine times out of ten. Still, somehow, this managed to be a very pleasant drink that was the perfect thing for a midweek wind down with some good TV. At least the unexpected result is an enjoyable one, unlike the recipients of a House of Cards style blindside. Seriously, those people, get screwed over so damn much.